Lily Allen Confirms She Was Dropped From 'Newsnight' Following Channel 4 Interview On Grenfell Tower Fire

Allen was told she was being replaced on 'Newsnight' just after giving a controversial interview on Channel 4 News where she accused the government of "micromanaging" the fall-out of the blaze.

Outspoken pop star Lily Allen has said that her scheduled appearance on ‘Newsnight’ following the Grenfell Tower fire disaster was “cancelled” with just hours to go.

The 32 year old singer had been due to appear on BBC Two’s politics show on Thursday night (June 15th) to discuss the fall-out of the Grenfell Tower blaze this week, which has claimed the lives of at least 17 people and likely dozens more.

Just a few hours before, she had appeared on Channel 4 News in a controversial interview with Jon Snow, saying the government was trying to “micromanage” people’s grief as well as suggesting that the true number of fatalities had been “downplayed”.

Lily Allen at a protest in London in April 2016

“I’m sad to say @bbcnewsnight have just cancelled me for tonight’s show,” she tweeted. “They have someone from the council coming on instead.”

No official reason has been stated for the BBC’s decision to replace Allen, and no statement has been forthcoming from the broadcaster.

“Once these people’s hope turns to anger they’ve got a real problem on their hands,” Allen had told Snow. “I feel like the government are trying to micromanage people’s grief here, that’s what happened. I’ve never in my entire life seen an event like this where the death count has been played by the mainstream media.”

“17?” she added, in reference to the number of fatalities confirmed so far. “I’m sorry, I’m hearing from people that the figure is much closer to 150, and that many of those people are children. Those are off the record figures that I’m being given from policemen and firemen.”

On Twitter, she had earlier hit back at people criticising her for ‘politicising’ the disaster. “What’s left of the building serves as a horrendous metaphor for how the Conservatives are running this country," she wrote.